Charging through the streets of Soweto on the morning of 16 June 1976, angry youth directed their anger at the apartheid system. Half a century later, restless youth, born into political freedom but trapped in economic hardship, are turning their knobkerries towards the “other”.
The seeds of discontent have been germinating for decades. They have been watered by a corrupt government sprinkling unproductive Cold War-era shibboleths on once-promising lands in a climate of breakneck change.
Locals need jobs. Foreigners have stolen them. This is the message that malevolent actors have carefully crafted and consistently amplified through social media. It is the fuel that burns the xenophobic fire in a country where five out of every ten youth are jobless.
Myths about immigrants continue to spread like wildfire, even after being debunked by fact-checkers. In many cases, the message is strong enough to mobilise angry mobs that take to the streets. Since 1994, Xenowatch has recorded 1,321 incidents that have claimed 698 lives and displaced more than 128,858 people. The most recent wave has left a trail of destruction, dislocation and despair.
In 2020, cyber analysts from the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) denuded a digital xenophobic campaign. The middle of March, they discovered, was the moment xenophobic mentions saw a sharp rise — from a daily average of 100 per day at the beginning of the month to 9,000 a fortnight later. The situation has worsened since then, with xenophobic messages whizzing between South Africa’s 27 million smartphone users.
What makes people susceptible to disinformation campaigns? In his 2011 book Thinking, Fast and Slow, psychologist Daniel Kahneman distinguished between two systems of thinking. The first operates reflexively, while the second requires deliberate effort. In their attempts to sway public opinion, opportunists go straight for System 1. Social media apps are designed such that they reward rage over reason. They are ideal for simple, emotion-laden messages packaged in familiar language.
With municipal elections mere months away, opportunistic politicians can be expected to fan the flames of xenophobia by propagating disinformation. This goal will be achieved more easily with armies of bots at their disposal, ready to pump out deepfakes and short-form content stripped of context.
It is up to individuals to engage System 2 and think critically amidst the torrent of disinformation flooding our screens and stirring our emotions.
Xenophobic violence will not fix South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis. The destruction of property forces businesses to send staff to unemployment as they close their doors. Professionals and entrepreneurs from targeted groups flee the country, valuable skills and capital in hand. Resources are redirected from education, housing and healthcare to security. The country is left in a worse position.
It’s not too late to challenge the myths fuelling xenophobic violence.
Each of us can do our part to reject xenophobic messages. Before haphazardly forwarding messages about Zimbabweans stealing jobs, pause. Give yourself time to think. When you someone accuses Malawians of being members of house break-in syndicates, prod them with questions that force them to evaluate their views. If you come across a picture of gangsters on your feed, do a reverse image search to check the context before furiously posting about Nigerian gangsters ruling the streets. Importantly, reach out. Set the screen aside and spend time speaking with people from different backgrounds. Yes, even “illegal” people who hold a different ID document than yours. Embrace them and you will be surprised. Expel them and we will be doomed.
Read next: South African government warns against misinformation following WHO xenophobia claims
Image: A man waves a stick in front a burning piece of furniture during a riot in the Johannesburg suburb of Turffontein on Sept. 2, 2019. Credit: Michele Spatari/AFP via Getty Images
